Russia
In the first round of the presidential elections on 16 June, President
Boris Yeltsin obtained just under 35 per cent of the vote. Gennady Zyuganov,
the left-wing candidate, gained just over 32 per cent. General Aleksandr
Lebed, who ran on a nationalist ticket emphasizing law and order, finished
in third place with over 14 per cent. The ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky
(see PARTIES, ORGANIZATIONS, MOVEMENTS) won less than 6 per cent of the
vote. Yuri Vlasov, the candidate of the far-right "national-patriotic"
camp (neo-Stalinist extremists tended to advise their followers to vote
for Zyuganov), obtained 0.2 per cent of the vote. Since no candidate had
succeeded in achieving the necessary "50 per cent plus one" margin,
a second round of voting between Yeltsin and Zyuganov became necessary.
On 18 June, Lebed was given a senior position in the Yeltsin administration
as national security adviser and secretary of the influential security council,
but was later dropped.
On 3 July, Yeltsin defeated Zyuganov in the second round of voting. Yeltsin
obtained 40,200,000 second-round votes (53.8 per cent) against 30,110,000
(40.3 per cent) for Zyuganov. Many commentators were surprised by the wide
margin of Yeltsin's victory.
In mid-July Yeltsin appointed leading reformer Anatoly Chubais as presidential
head of staff. President Yeltsin's state of health continued to give cause
for concern throughout the year.
Russia remains in the process of transition from a centrally planned economy
to a market economy. The transformation has affected nearly every sector
of the economy as labour resources shift from the former Soviet Union's
emphasis on industrial output to a greater balance between production, trade
and services. Industrial output has shrunk from over 75 per cent of the
country's economic activity in the 1980s to less than 40 per cent in 1996.
Wage arrears were the cause of many strikes. The 1996 official unemployment
figure was 8.2 per cent. The 1996 inflation rate was 7 per cent. About 23
per cent of the population live below the poverty line. Organized crime
remains a major issue in Russian society.
Domestic and foreign human rights groups continued to document serious violations
of international humanitarian law and human rights in Chechnya by both the
Russian military and Chechen separatist forces.
In August, Russian and Chechen leaders agreed terms on a cease-fire and
in the remainder of the year made steady progress towards a political settlement.
Russian troops completed their withdrawal from Chechnya, leaving the separatist
forces in effective control of the Chechen Republic. The two sides agreed
to hold elections in early 1997 and to resolve Chechnya's status within
five years.
The October 1917 Revolution brought to an end a long history of institutionalized
antisemitism in tsarist Russia and accorded the Jewish minority equal rights.
Jewish victims of the Nazi occupation of the Soviet Union numbered approximately
2 million.
In Stalin's last years an institutionalized anti-Jewish campaign culminated
in the so-called "doctors' plot", an alleged assassination attempt
on the Soviet dictator by a group of Jewish doctors.
Despite Khrushchev's policy of de-Stalinization, his rule was not devoid
of anti-Jewish elements. This was particularly demonstrated by the so-called
economic trials, in which an apparently disproportionate number of defendants
were Jews.
In 1963 "Judaism Without Embellishment", a book by the Soviet
Ukrainian writer Trofim Kichko published in Kiev (see Ukraine), evoked a
worldwide protest, in particular over its Nazi-style cartoons. It was eventually
withdrawn by the Soviet authorities.
In the Brezhnev era, an anti-Zionist propa-ganda campaign aimed at countering
the emigration sentiment of Soviet Jews was influenced by a number of anti-Jewish
propagandists who introduced classical antisemitic theses under a Marxist-Leninist
gloss.
During the Gorbachev period of liberalization of communist rule, antisemitism
became a characteristic feature of the numerous ultra-nationalist and neo-Stalinist
groups that emerged on the fringe of Russian politics, including Vladimir
Zhirinovsky's Liberalno-demokraticheskaya partiya Rossii (LDPR, Liberal
Democratic Party of Russia), which subsequently penetrated mainstream politics.
Following the collapse of the Soviet regime, the rights of the Jewish minority
have been fully respected by the government of President Yeltsin. The emigration
of Jews to Israel, motivated in part by perceptions of antisemitism among
Russia's population, continues.
People from the Caucasus and Central Asia face widespread popular discrimination, which is often reflected in official attitudes and actions. Since 1993 discrimination against such people has increased concurrently with new measures at both the federal and local levels to combat crime. Law enforcement authorities targeted people with dark complexions for harassment, arrest and deportation from urban centres. In May 1996, Amnesty International (AI) wrote to the procurator-general's office and law enforcement agencies in Moscow demanding the investigation of a series of cases in which Moscow police officers threatened and beat Chechen refugees. In August, participants at a round table of organizations of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly from the Caucasus expressed concern over what they described as the Russian authorities' policy of open racial and national discrimination against Arme-nians, Georgians and Azerbaydzhanis. They cited the arbitrary detention, beating and humiliation of thousands of their compatriots in Moscow and its environs as well as a campaign in the mass media against people originally from the Caucasus.
The results of the presidential elections (see GENERAL BACKGROUND) reflected
the continuing deterioration in the fortunes of the ultra-nationalist Vladimir
Zhirinovsky and his LDPR. There appeared to be a corresponding decrease
in Zhirinovsky's invocation of racial prejudice against Russia's dark-skinned
minorities and his playing of the "Jewish card".
In February, in a letter to US presidential candidate Pat Buchanan (see
United States of America), Zhirinovsky called him a "comrade-in-arms"
and wished him a "convincing victory" in the US presidential elections.
He suggested that if the two "brothers-in-arms" were to gain power,
Russia and the United States should join efforts in "fighting for national
liberation". "You describe the US congress as 'Israeli-occupied
territory'," Zhirinovsky said. "It is the same with us in Russia.
That is why, in order to survive, the United States and Russia could use
part of their territories to allot places for the settlement of this small
but troublesome tribe."
Following a rejection of his approach, Zhirinovsky wrote again to Buchanan
asking: "Who are you afraid of? Zionists?" His letter also contained
sarcastic suggestions that Bucha-nan would like to see Jews "dominating
government and the parliaments of all countries".
There were a number of contacts between Zhirinovsky's party and foreign
extremist groups. Thus, on 29 January, a delegation of the LDPR, headed
by the party's general secretary, Valenty Arkhipov, and Galina Zhirinovskaya,
the wife of the party leader, visited the Bosnian Serb town of Bijeljina,
where they met with leading members of the Serbian Radical Party (see Yugoslavia).
On 11 February, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of the French Front national
party (see France), was guest of honour at the church wedding of Vladimir
Zhirinovsky in Moscow.
There remained on the fringe of Russian politics approximately 100 extremist
parties, organizations and groups. While most of these organizations were
of an ultra-nationalist disposition, a substantial number of them adhered
to a neo-Stalinist orientation. All were united by visceral hostility towards
the Yeltsin administration and anti-westernism. Racism, xenophobia and antisemitism
were common to a majority of them. With the exception of the very largest,
the extremist groups had few active supporters and, furthermore, were weakened
by continual personal and ideological differences.
The principal anti-Jewish themes remain the alleged responsibility of the
Jews (or "Zionists") for the perceived humiliation of Russia and
Russian society and, generally, for the ills inflicted on Russia and the
Russian people by "alien" forces throughout this century-from
the imposition of the Bolshevik regime and the "excesses" of Stalinism
to the Yeltsin "Zionist occupation" regime. To charges of antisemitism,
extremists often respond with the charge of "Russophobia"-essentially
the allegation of a Jewish plot to erode Russia from within.
The following parties were among the most active on the far-right scene
in 1996.
The Russkoe natsionalnoe edinstvo (RNE, Russian National Unity), led by
Alek-sandr Barkashev, remains perhaps the best-organized extremist movement
in Russia. The RNE, which has a paramilitary wing, is re-ported to have
branches in fifty-three Russian cities and to number 20,000-25,000 activists.
The RNE was formed in October 1990 in Moscow, its membership at that time
consisting mainly of former members of Dmitry Vasilev's Pamyat organization
(see PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA). Until March 1993 the RNE was a member of the
Russky natsionalny sobor (RNS, Russian National Council). Its first major
political action was participation in the bloody anti-Yeltsin revolt of
October 1993. In 1994, the RNE leader, Barkashev, published a collection
of his articles entitled Azbuk russkogo natsionalista (ABC of a Russian
Nationalist), in which he labelled as overt enemies liberals, democrats,
Jews and Freemasons, and as covert enemies members of most of the other
extremist parties. Each RNE member is given a copy of the book. In December
1996, sixty representatives from cities in Siberia took part in a regional
conference in Novosibirsk. At this meeting Barkashev declared that the party's
primary enemies were "democrats, Jews and Freemasons"; he insisted
that "global Zionism" united those forces that wished to see Russian
nationalism "subordinated and controlled".
The RNE publishes two national newspapers, Russky poryadok and Russky
styag (see PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA), and a number of regional ones. Its
symbol is a swastika superimposed on an eight-pointed star. RNE members
wear black shirts and military uniform and greet one another with a Hitler-style
salute and the words "Glory to Russia!" In contrast with most
other ultra-nationalist activists in Russia, Barkashev does not hesitate
to describe himself as a "fascist". The RNE also runs a number
of military-patriotic clubs, which provide daily sporting exercises. Some
RNE members are employed by security firms and have access to firearms.
In Stavropol, for instance, the RNE's Russkiye vityazi (RV, Russian Knights)
group prepares young people for army service; in Omsk they protect country
summer residences; in Krasnoyarsk they gave protection to the communist
leader Gennady Zyuganov on a visit to the city.
The Natsionalno-bolshevistskaya partiya (NBP, National Bolshevik Party),
which is led by the eccentric former novelist Eduard Limonov, came into
being in May 1993 but, as a political organization, first became known in
November 1994 with the appearance of its organ Limonka (see PUBLICATIONS
AND MEDIA); previously only Limonov and Aleksandr Dugin, a "metaphysician",
were publicly known. In 1992 Limonov was internal affairs minister in the
"shadow cabinet" of Zhirinovsky's LDPR. In November 1993 he quit
the LDPR and founded the NBP. In June 1994, a meeting of the "revolutionary
opposition" due to take place in Moscow with the participation of Limonov
and Dugin never materialized owing to differences with Barkashev (see above)
and Viktor Anpilov (see below). In February 1996 the NBP joined the Co-ordination
Council of Radical Nationalist Parties and signed the so-called Kiev Declaration
on co-operation with the Ukrainian ultra-nationalist organizations UNA-UNSO
and the Partiya slavyanskogo edinstva (PSE, Party of Slavic Unity, see Ukraine).
The party's ideology is determined by Dugin and consists principally of:
centralized power on a hierarchical principle; a review of Russia's borders
together with plebiscites in the former Soviet republics; the termination
of western investment in Russia; and the total elimination of crime. The
party's organ, Limonka , virtually alone among publications of its
kind, often displays a humorous (and semi-pornographic) inclination. Until
recently (see HOLOCAUST DENIAL), Limonov did not appear to demonstrate an
anti-Jewish bent.
The Russkaya partiya Rossii (RPR, Russian Party of Russia), which is led
by Viktor Korchagin (see PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA), is to be distinguished
from the Russkaya partiya (RP, Russian Party) led by V. Miloserdov (see
below). The RPR was founded in late 1989, when it was given the title Organization
Committee of the National Democratic Party. Its inaugural conference took
place in May 1991 in Moscow. Delegates from thirty-seven regions elected
Korchagin as chairman. The party's ideology is pagan. Korchagin describes
himself as chairman of the so-called "Public Russian Government of
Russia" and advocates the immediate solution of the "Jewish question"
through the deportation of all Russia's Jews. In April 1995 Korchagin was
fined and banned from engaging in publishing for three years on account
of his article "Catechism of a Jew in Russia", which had appeared
in the party's paper Russkiye vedomosti (see PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA).
The following month he was pardoned in an amnesty occasioned by the fiftieth
anniversary of the end of the Second World War. In late 1995 Korchagin formally
dissolved his party. In spring 1996, for financial reasons, Korchagin closed
down his Vityaz publishing house, whose primary manifestation was the "Library
of a Russian Patriot"­p;twenty-five books and brochures on the
"Jewish question" and the Slavic pre-Christian era.
Following disagreements with Korchagin, V. Miloserdov, an ex-colonel of
the Soviet army, registered his splinter group as the Vserossiyskaya partiya
(VRP, All-Russia Party). The VRP claims it has sixty-two branches. In the
1995 parliamentary elections, Miloserdov's party put forward five candidates,
none of whom was elected. In the 1996 presidential elections, the party,
unable to gather the 1 million signatures required to register Miloserdov
as a presidential candidate, supported the communist leader Gennady Zyuganov.
Miloserdov claimed that all other candidates in the presidential election
either were, or had links with, Jews and Freemasons.
In the days leading up to the 16 June presidential elections, Viktor Anpilov-head
of the Trudovaya Rossiya (TR, Toiling Russia) movement and a leading activist
in the Russkaya
kommunisticheskaya rabochaya partiya (RKRP, Russian Communist Workers' Party),
which was part of the "popular-patriotic bloc" represented by
Zyuganov-made several antisemitic statements. In a television interview,
Anpilov said that if President Yeltsin won, "the Russian people would
take to the streets and there would be pogroms." He called Yeltsin's
regime a "Jewish conspiracy". He held up a communist cartoon depicting
the president and the Moscow mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, wearing skull-caps. The
text of the cartoon read: "These Moscow residents have made their choice."
On 9 June, Anpilov told Russia's NTV "Itogi" programme: "I
think there are many people on television, comrades, my colleagues, who,
in Russia, do not have the right to appear on screen because they have a
speech impediment. Well, if you can't pronounce your 'r's' properly-well,
Lenin couldn't either, but Lenin at least didn't appear on screen as a journalist!
He was a writer. I think that representatives of the indigenous populations
should appear on screen, those who speak, who were born with that language,
who speak in that language and who externally express most precisely the
main body of the population of the country. I am an internationalist. But
we see only persons of Jewish nationality. That offends us! That
is not possible! Look who they make programmes about-[the actor] Zinovy
Gerdt, [the actor Aleksandr] Gaft, everywhere you look! And all on the same
channel! Be so kind-you have a programme administration-pass it on to it
to do something to ensure that, let's say a Chuvash, a Buryat, a Russian
appears on television from time to time. That is normal. The country has
many nationalities."
In July it was reported that Anpilov had been stripped of a key post in
the RKRP. Some members of the hard-line communist movement said that Anpilov
had fallen into disfavour on account of his antisemitic statements; others
said he had engaged in financial improprieties.
The Soyuz russkogo naroda (SRN, Union of the Russian People) regards itself
as the successor to the reactionary and antisemitic organization of the
same name that existed before the October 1917 Revolution. It is led by
the teacher V. Birulin and former KGB colonel I. Kuznetzov. In the 1995
parliamentary elections, seven SRN candidates were put forward, but none
was elected. In the 1996 presidential elections the SRN supported Zyuganov.
The SRN calls for the prohibition of marriage between people of different
nationalities. On 20 December the chairman of this organization, speaking
on regional television, condemned the so-called destruction wrought on his
country by the "Judeo-commissars", claimed that the "real
name" of the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was Moisei Solomonovich,
and that in the year 2000 "Zionism" would be predominant in Russia.
The largest SRN branch, in Tsaritsin, is registered as the Union of the
Russian People-Russian Community of Volgograd Area.
The Russkoe natsionalnoe osvoboditelnoe dvizhenie (RNOD, Russian National
Liberation Movement) was founded in early 1996 in St Petersburg. The RNOD
holds "Zionism" responsible for usurping power in Russia in 1917,
for the alleged mass genocide of the Russian people, and for inciting class
and national enmity.
The Russky natsionalny soyuz (RnS, Russian National Union) was founded in
1993 following its split from Dimitry Vasilev's Pamyat organization. The
RnS considers itself fascist and advocates the "cleanliness" of
Russian blood. Its principal enemies are Caucasians and Jews.
In mid-May, Nikolay Ryabov, the chairman of the Russian Central Elections
Commission, reported that his commission had noted a series of incidents
involving the supporters of certain (unnamed) candidates in the presidential
race that crossed the bounds of civilized norms and rules of behaviour in
the conduct of electioneering. He mentioned, among other things, the use
of racist and antisemitic slogans for political ends. He said his commission
had submitted the appropriate materials to the procurator-general's office
and to the ministry of the interior.
Gennady Zyuganov, the left-wing candidate in the June-July presidential
elections (see GENERAL BACKGROUND), has appeared to show no hesitation during
his political career in associating with anti-Jewish figures. He is a regular
speaker at meetings organized by the "patriotic" far left and
gives regular interviews to publications such as Zavtra, Nash sovremennik
and Molodaya gvardiya (see PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA). Asked by
NTV on 11 June whether he concurred with Anpilov's antisemitic remarks on
alleged Jewish dominance of Russian television (see PARTIES, ORGANIZATIONS,
MOVEMENTS), Zyuganov gave a response that fell far short of condemnation:
"Any person has the right to appear on television and express his views.
We guarantee this. On the other hand, one has to respect the peoples' traditions,
languages and cultures, including those of the Russian people, the Russian
language. I have only just been driving in [Moscow's] main street, Gorky
Street, or Tverskaya, and half the signs are in English. I too feel humiliated
by this."
In late June, at the time of the second round of voting in the presidential
election, General Aleksandr Lebed responded to a questioner at a public
meeting: "You say you are a Cossack. Why do you speak like a Jew?"
In July, several days after Lebed's remarks, American Jewish Committee (AJC)
executive director David Harris was refused a visa to travel to Russia to
attend an AJC-sponsored conference. Harris had been active on behalf of
Russian Jewry in the 1970s and 1980s.
Interviewed in the daily Izvestiya (16 July) by New York Times
reporters, Lebed said: "I am sorry about how it sounded. But there
has never been any antisemitism in anything I have said. I have many friends
and colleagues who are Jewish. I have never divided people on the basis
of their nationality." In November, on a visit to the United States,
Lebed told Jewish leaders: "I am not, have never been and never will
be an anti-Semite" (Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Daily News Bulletin
, 28 November).
Jews are prominent in Russia's government and among business people. In
November, the appointment of Boris Berezovsky, a millionaire industrialist,
to the position of deputy secretary of the security council, caused a storm.
Izvestiya , claiming that Berezovsky possessed dual Russian-Israeli
citizenship, said it was a "scandal" that he had been given a
senior security role; the newspaper also criticized his appointment as a
member of the board of directors of Russian Public Television. On 2 November,
Russian Public Television contended that the claim that Berezovsky possessed
dual citizenship was antisemitic in nature. A remark by duma speaker
Gennady Seleznev that Berezovsky was "conducting an anti-Russian revolution
in public television" led the security council secretary Ivan Rybkin
to claim that this was an antisemitic accusation. Berezovsky himself said
that the allegations against him were inspired by antisemitism.
Antisemitic manifestations appear to have occurred on a scale similar
to that of the previous year. Complete data on antisemitic manifestations
in Russia are not available (see ASSESSMENT).
On 14 January, about twenty members of the Orel branch of the RNE (see PARTIES,
ORGANIZATIONS, MOVEMENTS) attempted to break up a meeting of the local Jewish
community. In a demonstration outside the concert hall where the meeting
was taking place they carried banners displaying a swastika and shouted
slogans such as "Glory to Russia!" and "Death to the kikes!"
Police told representatives of the Jewish community that they could see
"no violation of public order" in the demonstration.
In mid-November, following a basketball match in Moscow between the CSKA
Moscow team and the Maccabi Tel Aviv professional team, a group of about
forty youths were physically attacked by about fifty persons wearing CSKA
symbols and shouting "Beat the Jews!" and "Go to Israel!"
Several Jewish youths were injured in the incident.
On 11 December, about thirty members of a Pamyat group (see PUBLICATIONS
AND MEDIA) dressed in black uniform shouted anti-Jewish slogans outside
the Israeli embassy in Moscow.
Two incidents of fire-bombing were reported: that of a Yaroslavl synagogue,
which damaged the library and offices (19 April), and an attack on Moscow's
Marina Roshcha Hasidic synagogue, which damaged masonry and shattered windows
(22 August).
Incidents of vandalism reported include: the desecration of over 150 gravestones
in St Petersburg's only Jewish cemetery (16-17 January); the robbery and
spray painting of antisemitic graffiti in a Jewish centre in Smolensk; the
desecration of forty gravestones in a Jewish cemetery in Kursk; and vandalism
of the Jewish cemetery in Tambov for the fourth time in recent years (July),
tombstones in the Jewish cemetery of Vladimir (27 November), and the Holocaust
memorial in Nizhny Novgorod (December).
On the night of 23-24 November, sixteen gravestones were smashed in the
Jewish cemetery of Saratov. In summer 1996 the cemetery had been subject
to an earlier attack. The culprits were not found. In early December, the
Russian Jewish Congress stated that the procurator-general's office had
opened a criminal case on the incident. The Congress described this development
as the "first instance of direct interference by the federal authorities
in the investigation of anti-Jewish actions such as the explosions outside
synagogues in Yaroslavl and Moscow last April and August and the pog-roms
at Jewish cemeteries in Kursk, Nizhny Novgorod and St Petersburg".
In none of the above cases, as far as can be ascertained, were the culprits
found.
The most influential of the anti-Jewish media remained, as in the last
few years, the weekly communist newspaper Zavtra (Tomorrow), edited
by Aleksandr Prokhanov (in November the paper acquired a World Wide Web
site) and the communist literary monthlies Nash sovremennik (Our
Contemporary) and Molodaya gvardiya (Young Guard). These, and many
other anti-Jewish publications, were readily available throughout Russia
both on news-stands and by subscription.
The most virulently antisemitic of prominent extremist newspapers, al-Qods
, continued to encounter legal obstacles (see LEGAL MATTERS) and appeared
irregularly; differences between the publisher, the Moscow-based Palestinian
businessman Shaban Khafez Shaban, and editorial staff led to the founding
of a new weekly, Duel, which carried a similar masthead and presented
a more "moderate" form of anti-Jewish prejudice.
In its issue no. 15, Evreyskaya gazeta , Russia's principal Jewish
newspaper, described as antisemitic ninety Russian papers and periodicals
that appeared in Moscow. It singled out Russky vestnik, Russky
poryadok and Kolokol (see below). The number of these publications
was not constant: some closed down for various reasons-e.g. lack of financial
means, personal disputes-while new ones started up.
The most up-to-date basic information on Russia's extremist publications
was contained in Politichesky ekstremizm v Rossii , no. 5-6 (17-18)
(June 1996), a bulletin published by the Civil Society Foundation in Moscow,
and is provided below. We have added extra information where possible. Some
of the names of the publications enumerated here are references to Russian
historical and nostalgic concepts; a number of them are untranslateable.
Za russkoe delo (For the Russian Cause; from April 1991 to October
1993, Russkoe delo (The Russian Cause)), a newspaper published in
St Petersburg, is the organ of the Russkoe natsionalnoe osvoboditelnoe dvizhenie
(RNOD, Russian National Liberation Movement). It displays the motto "The
Interests of the Nation are Above All Else!" The paper's editor-in-chief
is O. Gusev, its deputy editor-in-chief R. Perin. It has a print-run of
50,000.
Za Rus ! (For Russia!), a newspaper published in Novorossiysk, is
the organ of the Natsionalno-osvoboditelnogo dvizheniya (NOD, National Liberation
Movement). Founded by the Novorossiysk Voluntary Society for Russian Culture
"Fatherland", its motto is "If the People are United, They
are Unconquerable". Its editor is S. Putintsev and its print-run is
5,000.
Zemshchina , a Moscow-based newspaper, is the organ of the Narodnaya
natsionalnaya partiya (NNP, People's National Party). Published since 1990,
its editor is N. Dubrovin and its print-run 1,000. It sees its main task
as "illuminating" the NNP's activities. Its principal contents
are political and historical articles of a Russian Orthodox and nationalist
orientation. Among its regular columns are "Holy Russia", "Aryan
Unity", "Rightists Old and New", "Church Life"
and "Our Culture". Its principal columnists are V. Demin, A. Shiropaev
and R. Bagdasarov.
Znamya pobedy (Banner of Victory), a newspaper published in St Petersburg,
is the organ of the Russky molodezhny front (RMF, Russian Youth Front).
Its editor-in-chief is M. Fomin; A. Mironov and N. Vorobev are members of
its editorial board. The paper has a print-run of 990.
Inform-Rossiya (Information Russia), formerly known as Inform-600
sekund (Information 600 Seconds), is a St Petersburg-based newspaper
that functions as a print version of a television programme of the same
name presented by the hard-line communist Aleksandr Nevzorov. The paper
has appeared since June 1994 and its founder, publisher and editor-in-chief
is I. Ilin. Its motto is "Democracy is in Hell, But Tsarism is in Heaven!"
and it has a print-run of 50,000.
Kolokol (The Bell), a newspaper that appears in Volgograd, is the
organ of the SRN (see PARTIES, ORGANIZATIONS, MOVEMENTS), an organization
that regards itself as the successor of the well-known pre-revolutionary
reactionary and antisemitic political party of that name. Founded by the
Russian Community of Volgograd Region, Kolokol is published by the
Association of Independent Entrepreneurs of Volgograd Region. Its editor-in-chief
is S. Terentev and its print-run 10,000.
Limonka , which is published in Moscow, is the weekly newspaper of
the NBP (see PARTIES, ORGANIZATIONS, MOVEMENTS). It is edited by the hard-line
communist activist and former writer Eduard Limonov (see HOLOCAUST DENIAL).
It was founded in November 1994 by T. Rabko and its print-run is 8,000.
The newspaper Narodnaya zashchita (People's Defence) is published
in Moscow and was founded by S. Gavryushin. Its carries the motto "Russians
Will Defend Russia!" and its editor-in-chief is M. Kostyuk. It has
a print-run of 20,000.
Narodny stroy, a Moscow-based newspaper, is the organ of the Partiya
natsionalnogo fronta (PNN, National Front Party). Its motto is "In
Struggle You Will Gain Your Rights!" The paper's print-run is 999.
Nasledstvie predkov (Heritage of the Forefathers), a journal published
in Moscow, was founded and is edited by V. Popov and has a print-run of
2,000.
Natsionalnaya gazeta (National Newspaper) was founded by V. Davydov
and is published in Moscow. Its motto is "You are For the Nation-The
Nation is For You". Its editor-in-chief is A. Lobkov and its print-run
is 25,000.
Natsionalnaya demokratiya (National Democracy) is a journal published
in Moscow by the Russkoe natsionalno-demokraticheskoe dvizhenie (RNDD, Russian
National Democratic Movement). Its founder and ed-itor-in-chief is V. Kolosov.
Natsiya (The Nation), a journal published in Moscow, was founded
by M. Levin. Its editor-in-chief is K. Kasimovsky; its editorial board comprises
V. Vanyushkina, A. Eliseev, A. Kalashnikov and M. Rogov.
Nashe otechestvo (Our Fatherland) describes itself as an "opposition
Russian patriotic newspaper" and is published in St Petersburg. Its
founder, publisher and editor-in-chief is E. Shchekatikhin. Its motto is
"Fight for Russia and be Victorious!" The paper's print-run is
10,000.
Nord-Press, the organ of the Russian National Information Agency,
appears in St Petersburg. It was established by the Natsionalno-respublikanskaya
partiya Rossii (NRPR, National Republican Party of Russia) and its editor-in-chief
is D. Usov. One of its functions is "working on the leader's image".
Pamyat (Remembrance), a newspaper that appears in Moscow, is published
by the Natsionalno-patriotichesky front "Pamyat" (NPFP, National
Patriotic Front Pamyat). Its mottoes are "For Tsar and Fatherland!"
and "Patriots of the World Unite!" It is published and edited
by the party's leader, Dmitry Vasilev, and its print-run is 10,000.
A second paper with the name of Pamyat appears in Novosibirsk and
is the organ of the Patrioticheskoe dvizhenie "Pamyat" (PDP, Patriotic
Movement Pamyat). It was founded in May 1990 by the "Toilers' Editorial
Collective". Its motto is "Russia, Rus! Defend Yourself, Defend
Yourself!" Its print-run is 5,000.
The newspaper Rodnye prostory (Native Lands), which is published
in St Petersburg, is the organ of the pagan Soyuz venedov (SV, Union of
Veneds (the religion of pre-Christian Russia)) and has appeared since May
1990. Its founder is the Volkhv Publishing House and its motto is "Glory
to Svarog [presumably a pre-Christian Slavic hero]!" Its editor is
A. Boykov, its print-run 1,000.
Rossiyskoe vozrozhdenie (Russian Revival), a Moscow-based newspaper,
has existed since 1990. Its motto is "For Social Justice, National
Dignity and Spiritual Revival!" Its editor-in-chief is V. Skurlatov
and its print-run is 20,000.
Rossiyanin (Russian) is a St Petersburg-based newspaper whose editor-in-chief
is A. Rogatkin. Its print-run is 50,000.
Rossiya sobornaya , a Moscow-based newspaper, is an organ of V. Miloserdov's
RP (see PARTIES, ORGANIZATIONS, MOVEMENTS).
Rusich is a journal that appears in Moscow and displays the motto
"For the Spiritual and Biological Salvation of the Russian People!"
Its editor-in-chief is E. Pasnin; its print-run is 25,000.
Russkaya gazeta (Russian Newspaper), another Moscow-based organ of
the RP, was founded by P. Shibin and is sponsored by the Russian National
Foundation. Its motto is "Russians, Unite!" Its editor-in-chief
is I. Malakhov, its print-run 20,000.
Russkaya zhizn (Russian Life) is a newspaper that appears in Rostov-on-Don
and is published by the Natsionalny sovet Soyuza russkogo naroda (NSSRN,
National Council of the Union of the Russian People). Its editor is K. Sorokin.
Russky vzglyad is an "all-Russian newspaper" whose founder,
publisher and editor-in-chief is V. Mikhaylov. Its print-run is 50,000.
Russkoe znamya (Russian Banner) is a newspaper that appears in Sarov,
Nizhegorod Region. Its founder is A. Tikhonov, its publisher I. Makarov.
Its editorial board includes D. Bokan, V. Krupin, A. Strizhev and S. Shatokhin.
Russkaya pravda (Russian Truth) is a Moscow-based newspaper that
is the organ of the RNOD. Its founder, editor and publisher is A. Aratov.
Its print-run is 10,000.
Russkiye besedy (Russian Debates) is a newspaper published in Moscow
and founded by the national Russian Club association. Its motto is "He
Who Does Not Know into Which Port he is Swimming-For Him There is no Favourable
Wind". Its editor-in-chief is E. Banbizov, its print-run 2,000.
Russkiye vedomosti (Russian News) is a Moscow-based newspaper that
is the organ of the Public Russian Government of Russia. Its founder and
editor is Viktor Korchagin. Its motto is "Russia for the Russians!"
Russky vestnik (Russian Messenger), a Moscow-based newspaper, was
founded by the International Foundation of Slavic Language and Culture.
Published since January 1991, its editor-in-chief is A. Senin. The paper's
print-run is 45,000.
Russky vostok (Russian East), an "all-Russia" newspaper
published in Vladivostok, is the organ of the Natsionalno-patrioticheskoe
dvizhenie (NPD, National Patriotic Movement). Its motto is "For Holy
Russia!" and it has existed since 1992. It was founded by the Russky
natsionalno-patriotichesky soyuz "Vernost" (RNPSV, Russian National
Patriotic Union Fidelity). It has a print-run of 6,000.
Russky nablyudatel (Russian Observer), a Moscow-based newspaper,
is an organ of the Russky natsionalny soyuz (RnS, Russian National Union).
It has appeared since 1995. Its editor-in-chief is R. Lobzova.
Russky natsionalist (Russian Nationalist) is an "informative-analytical"
newspaper that appears in the city of Dolgoprudny, Moscow Region. The organ
of the Partiya russkikh natsionalistov (PRN, Party of Russian Nationalists),
it was founded by M. Sorokin. Its motto is "Faith. Will. Victory!",
its editor-in-chief R. Kayumov, its print-run 2,300.
The newspaper Russky poryadok (Russian Order) is an organ of the
RNE (see PARTIES, ORGANIZATIONS, MOVEMENTS) and has been published since
October 1992 in Vladivostok, Moscow, Samara and Stavropol. Its founder is
V. Yakunin, its editor S. Poluboyarov. Its print-run was 15,000-55,000 in
1993, 5 million in 1996. The paper features articles by RNE leader Aleksandr
Barkashev in virtually every issue.
Russky puls (Russian Pulse) is a Moscow newspaper that was founded
by V. Stepanov and V. Fomichev. Its motto is "Our Position is the Opposition",
its editor-in-chief V. Kozhevnikov, its print-run 5,000.
The newspaper Russky put (The Russian Way) is published in Orenburg
and displays the motto "Russians, Love One Another-This is Our Strength".
The paper was founded by the Russian National Centre of Orenburg and O.
Tomin; its editor-in-chief is A. Murashov; its print-run is 5,000.
Russky sobor, a newspaper published in Moscow, is the organ of the
"public patriotic association" the Russky natsionalny sobor (RNS,
Russian National Council). It was founded by the RNS and an "editorial
collective" and its editor-in-chief is I. Taneyeva. Its motto is "Arise,
Russian People!" It has a print-run of 100,000.
Russky styag (Russian Banner), a newspaper published in Moscow, is
another organ of the RNE. Trial issues were published in 1991 and it was
revived in October 1995. Its founder is D. Semyonov, its editor-in-chief
S. Puluboyarov. The print-run is 50,000.
Russkoe otechestvo (Russian Fatherland, formerly Narodnoe delo
(The People's Cause)), is a "people's patriotic newspaper"
published in Sergiev Posad, Moscow Region. Its editor-in-chief is A. Bazhenov
and its print-run is 950.
Russkoe soprotivlenie (Russian Resistance; from June 1992 to October
1993, Nationalist ), a newspaper published in St Petersburg, is the
organ of the NRPR. Its motto is "Nation, Justice, Order!" Its
editor is G. Zheglov. Its print-run is 10,000.
Sergiev Posad is a Russian Orthodox newspaper published in Sergiev
Posad. Its publication is financed by the Cossack chieftain M. Filin and
its motto is "God is With Us!" It is published by the Sergiev
Posad Cossack Station and Russian Orthodox Brotherhood of Reverend Sergey
Radonezhsky. It has a print-run of 10,000.
Slavyansky mir (Slavic World) is an "information bulletin"
published in Moscow by the Independent Information Agency. It is published
three times a month. There is also a CD-Rom version.
Strannitsy rossiyskoy istorii (Pages of Russian History), a newspaper
published in St Petersburg, was founded and is edited by A. Gromov. It adheres
to the motto "There Are No Bad People-Only Bad Rulers!"
Turma i volya/Narodnaya volya (Prison and Will/People's Will) was
founded by the Co-operative Industrial Production Association of Paper Makers,
Publishers and Polygraphic Workers and the Torch Creative Production Association.
It is edited, published and designed by A. Belov in a print-run of 5,000
copies.
Cherny korpus (Black Corps), a weekly information bulletin that appears
in Tomsk, is the organ of the local party organization of the NNP. It has
been published since December 1995; its editor-in-chief is E. Malikov.
Chernaya sotnya (Black Hundreds), a newspaper published in Moscow
since 1994, is the organ of the Black Hundreds movement, which sees itself
as the successor to the pre-revolutionary pogromist body of that name. Its
motto is "For Faith, Tsar and Fatherland!" Its editor is Aleksandr
Shtilmark and it has a print-run of 10,000.
Shturm (Storm) is a monthly "independent" journal published
in Moscow. Its editor-in-chief is D. Rumyantsev, its deputy editor-in-chief
V. Shestakov.
Shturmovik (Storm Trooper), a newspaper published in Moscow, is another
organ of the RnS. Its founder and editor-in-chief is K. Kasimovsky, Its
motto is "Purity of Faith and Purity of Blood!" It has a print-run
of 20,000.
Era Rossii (Era of Russia), an "all-Russia public-political"
monthly published in Moscow, is another organ of the NNP. It has been published
since January 1994. Its first two issues appeared in Novosibirsk, subsequent
ones in Moscow. Its founder is V. Popov; its editor is party leader Aleksandr
Ivanov-Sukharevsky. It has a print-run of 25,000.
In its no. 3, April issue, Russky vzglyad published what it termed
an incomplete list of "murdered unmaskers of Zionism"-i.e. heroes
of the ultra-nationalist movement. The list is interesting for what it reveals
of the paranoia of Russian extremists:
1978: Yuri Ivanov, author of the book "Beware Zionism", murdered
by Jews while on operating table-"He could have lived a lot longer";
10 February 1990: Evgeny Evseyev, "author of many scholarly historical
works on the crimes of Zionism", run over by a car;
26 April 1991: Konstantin Smirnov-Ostashvili, "a fighter for national
equality", hanged [he committed suicide] in prison while serving a
sentence under article 74 of the penal code (racial and ethnic incitement);
21 May 1991: "violent death" of A. K. Tsikunov (aka A. Kuzmich),
"author of articles on the economic plundering of Russia";
6 October 1991: poet and [pop] singer Igor Talkov, shot dead in St Petersburg-"The
murderer, Shlyafman, is hiding in Israel."
12 August 1993: Yu. V. Platnikov, editor of Yekaterinburg "Russian
patriotic" paper Russky soyuz, run down by a car in Chelyabinsk "while
on an assignment";
24 August 1993: Vladimir Tsikarev, poet, activist of national-patriotic
movement, murdered in St Petersburg ("numerous knife wounds, after
which thrown into the water");
3-4 October 1993: thousands of Russian patriots murdered in Moscow by decree
of Boris Yeltsin;
24 April 1994: I. V. Lystsov, writer and poet, murdered in Moscow, "struck
on the head with a heavy object and thrown into the water";
30 June 1994: A. V. Krasnoperov, founder of patriotic paper, murdered in
Izhevsk;
April 1994: Litvinova, Russian patriotic wo-man, died on operating table;
6 December 1994: Dmitry Alov and Andrey Koshalov, bodyguards of ultra-nationalist
leader Igor Belyaev, killed in St Petersburg during assassination attempt
on their leader.
Antisemitic books publicly on sale included, as in previous years, The
Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Mein Kampf and the works of Alfred
Rosenberg, Goebbels, Mussolini, Henry Ford, Douglas Reed and others.
New books or new editions that appeared in 1996 included Viktor Korchagin
(see PARTIES, ORGANIZATIONS, MOVEMENTS), Sud nad Akademikom (Trial
of an Academician) (Moscow: Vityaz); Viktor Korchagin (ed.), Sionskiye
Protokoly (The Protocols of the Elders of Zion) (Moscow: Vityaz); V.
P. Kovalkov, Russkaya natsiya i armiya (The Russian Nation and the
Army) (Moscow: Vityaz); and Grigory Klimov, Krasnaya kabbala: Lektsii
po vysshey sotsiologii (The Red Kabal: Lectures on Advanced Sociology)
(Krasnodar: Sovetskaya Kuban, 432pp., print-run 25,000; publisher's description:
"continuation of and supplementary to The Protocols of the Elders
of Zion ").
Antisemitic video-cassettes, made for the most part by RNE activists, were
also on sale. One such video-cassette carried the description "All
about kikes".
On 13 February the Right Reverend Venyamin of Vladivostok and Primorsky
[Administrative] Area was interviewed by the pro-communist newspaper Sovetskaya
Rossiya about Metropolitan Ioann of St Petersburg and Ladoga, the virulently
anti-western and anti-Jewish clergyman who died in November 1995. Ioann,
he said, "used to speak without regard for 'public opinion' and without
'fear of the Jews' and thus of course acquired many enemies. There were
people dissatisfied with him in the [Russian Orthodox] church too, including
his own St Petersburg parish. However, [Ioann] did not compromise with his
conscience . . . Figuratively speaking, Metropolitan Ioann sought, using
the spiritual sword of love, to cut asunder the knot of evil tied around
Russia by the dark forces of Zionism and Freemasonry . . ."
Religious themes are common to the ideology of many of the fringe extremist
groups and their publications (see PARTIES, ORGANIZATIONS, MOVEMENTS and
PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA). Equally, Russian Orthodox clerics attend meetings
of fringe groups in their indi-vidual capacity. Moreover, Russian Orthodox
groups that are apparently autonomous publish certain press organs (see
PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA). As far as can be ascertained, the Russian Orthodox
church officially plays no part in anti-Jewish activities.
The denial and playing down of the Holocaust has not hitherto been a
characteristic feature of Russian antisemitism. However, in 1996 Holocaust
denial appeared to be on the increase.
In a special composite edition (no. 32-34), the weekly Russky vestnik
, an ultra-nationalist newspaper published in Moscow (see PUBLICATIONS
AND MEDIA), devoted its entire edition to an article by Jurgen Graf entitled
"The Myth of the Holocaust: The Truth About the Jews in the Second
World War". The article was, in fact, a Russian translation of an article
provided by the Institute for Historical Review (IHR) in Los Angeles (see
United States of America), together with a few comments by the newspaper's
editor.
The Russky vestnik piece presented all the usual Holocaust-denial
themes. The author pre-faced the article with an introduction (clearly provided
by the IHR) that spelled out the major arguments, suggesting that these
were the work of honest, objective scholars who found themselves persecuted
by dark forces with a vested interest in keeping the myth alive.
In its no. 30 issue, Limonka , the Moscow-based twice-monthly paper
edited by the hard-line communist Eduard Limonov (see PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA)
and not hitherto an explicitly antisemitic publication, entered the field
of Holocaust denial. Comparing figures of Holocaust victims from a number
of suspect sources, the paper lighted on the figure of 4 million, provided,
it said, by an article by François Bedarida (as transliterated) in
the Paris paper Le Monde of 23 July 1990: "It has been established
scientifically [emphasis in the original] that it was not 4 million,
but 1 million. Many, very many, painfully many, but not 4 million. But the
Zionists continue to speak of 6 million, although 6 minus 3 equals 3 million.
But in fact not even three . . . Who needs 6 million Jewish victims? Israel.
They place Israel and the Jews in the winning position of a state and nation
to which everything, or almost everything, is permissible in this world.
While we Russian dumb-bells have never been able to make use of our 20 million
who died with weapons in their hands."
The ultra-nationalist paper Russky vzglyad (see PUBLICATIONS AND
MEDIA), no. 3, April, claimed: "During the Second World War approximately
500,000 Jews died in all, which in no way compares with the losses of any
other nation taken separately that was involved in the war. The extremely
authoritative 'World Almanac' stated in 1940 that there were 15,315,000
Jews in the world. Seven years later, this source 'photographed' the situation
in 1947-15,753,000. Form your own conclusions! [emphasis in the original]"
Russky vzglyad also claimed that the Diary of Anne Frank was
"one of the 'longest-playing' forgeries": "The position of
[Anne's] father is clear and characteristic-he wanted to make money out
of his daughter's innocent recollections."
Between 12 January and 7 February 1996 the American Jewish Committee
(AJC) sponsored its third survey in Russia in recent years. The survey was
carried out by ROMIR, a leading public opinion and market research company
based in Moscow. ROMIR interviewed 1,581, respondents who constituted a
representative national sample of the population of Russia, eighteen years
of age and older.
The survey was conducted during the period leading up to the presidential
election.
Among the key findings of the survey were:
The findings of the survey revealed a mixed picture. The current bleak outlook
of the respondents did not appear to have translated into overt hostility
towards Jews on the part of the masses of Russians. Nevertheless, there
was cause for concern in the fact that unusually large proportions of Russians
answered "don't know" when asked about such things as the desirability
of Jews as neigbours and about the influence of Jews in Russian society.
This could point to an anti-Jewish potential that could come to the fore
if the situation in Russia continued to deteriorate.
In the context of the survey, a majority of supporters of both Vladimir
Zhirinovsky and the communist leader Gennady Zyuganov did not display open
anti-Jewish hostility. How-ever, this finding in no way changed the fact
that by supporting a figure like Zhirinovsky, his followers were advancing
the cause of politi-cal antisemitism in Russia.
Finally, many Russians lacked even the most elementary factual knowledge
about the Holocaust. At the same time, there was solid support among Russians
for keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive and little openness to Holocaust
denial.
In 1996 the results were announced of a survey of the incidences of antisemitism
experienced by 612 St Petersburg Jews; the survey was conducted late in
1995 by San Francisco's Bay Area Council of Jewish Rescue and Renewal in
conjunction with the Harold Light Jewish Center for Human Rights. The results
were analysed by the council, St Petersburg Jewish University and Brandeis
University's Perlmutter Institute for Jewish Advocacy. Fifty-four per cent
of Jews who responded had experienced antisemitic name-calling, while 40
per cent had witnessed other forms of antisemitism in 1995. Because the
authorities often failed to respond to such incidents, few victims reported
them. Of those who admitted to having experienced antisemitism, only thirty-two
(10 per cent) reported the incident to the authorities.
On 18 January, the judicial chamber on information disputes, which is
attached to the office of the Russian president, sent to the procurator-general
for further action a case involving an article in the newspaper al-Qods
(see PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA) entitled "Plan to Free Palestine from
Judaism". The chamber said the article violated laws against advocating
war and inflaming national and social tension. In November 1994 the Russian
Press Committee annulled the registration of al-Qods on the grounds
that its publisher, Dr Shaban Khafez Shaban, was a foreign citizen (he was
a citizen of Jordan). In June 1995 a Tver court found that a newspaper could
not be closed down only on the basis of a court order. And in August that
year Shaban applied to a Moscow court for the decision to be annulled, saying
he had subsequently acquired Russian citizenship. His application was granted
and in September 1995 his newspaper began to appear again. Shaban, who describes
himself as chair of the "Government of Palestine in Exile", is
a businessman of dubious connections and, among other things, the owner
of a chain of restaurants in the United States, where he lived for some
time before emigrating to Russia.
On 24 January Col.-Gen. (retired) Albert Makashov, a state duma (lower
chamber of parliament) deputy and a hard-line opponent of reforms, won a
lawsuit against Samara Region's presidential representative, Yuri Borodulin.
Makashov had sued Borodulin after the latter publicly called him a "fascist-like
general". Borodulin was ordered by the court to apologize publicly
and to pay Makashov r. 10 million (about $2,000) in damages.
In February a St Petersburg court found Yuri Belyayev, head of the St Petersburg
branch of the extremist NRPR, guilty of inciting ethnic hatred based on
an interview he gave Izvestiya . Belyayev and his party were also
accused of disseminating propaganda against Jews and people from the Caucasus.
Belyayev was given a suspended sentence of one year's imprisonment.
In March, a court in Yaroslavl sentenced two members of the neo-Nazi group
Werewolf Legion to imprisonment. Yuri Pirozhok, twenty-eight years old and
the leader of the group, was sentenced to five years for hooliganism and
incitement of racial and ethnic hat-red, while Viktor Baranov received a
nine-year prison term for murder and hooliganism. The group, formed in spring
1994 in Moscow, is said to have the "final solution of the Jewish question"
as one of its major goals. Prior to his arrest, Pirozhok had said in interviews
with several Moscow newspapers that "Democrats, Yankees and kikes should
be wiped out ruthlessly".
Evreyskaya gazeta , no. 6, March, reported that, after several years
of the newspaper's attempting to have proceedings instigated against the
antisemitic monthly periodical Molodaya gvardiya (see PUBLICATIONS
AND MEDIA), Moscow's Lublin district procuracy had finally undertaken a
preparatory investigation against the periodical under article 74 of the
Russian criminal code. Evreyskaya gazeta added that "It cannot
but grieve us that extremists, who are not encountering the required resistance
from the forces of law and order, are getting bolder and bolder. If in 1989
periodicals such as this were very few, now there are something like 150
of them! The courts and procuracy are not to be blamed for everything-a
more precise law should be framed."
In August, Evreyskaya gazeta reported that, following complaints
from the local Jewish community, the East Siberian department for the observance
of legislation concerning the mass media and the press reprimanded the antisemitic
paper Krasnoyarskaya gazeta (editor-in-chief O. Pashchenko) for serious
violations of press law.
On 16 October, it was reported that Ilya Lazarenko, twenty-three years of
age, a former law student and founder and editor of Narodny stroy (see
PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA), an antisemitic newspaper published by Lazarenko's
group of young neo-Nazis, the PNN, was to be tried in a Moscow court on
charges of inciting racial hatred.
On 14 November, an interdepartmental conference at the procurator-general's
office in Moscow, convened to discuss progress achieved under President
Yeltsin's March 1995 decree on combating fascism, noted: "The growing
number of cases of incitement to racial, national and religious strife and
spreading ideas of fascism in Russia very often do not meet with effective
counteraction." Participants in the meeting noted that the supreme
court had not given substantiated explanations concerning the applicability
of legal norms establishing responsibility for violation of rights and freedoms
of citizens and there was no clear formulation of the term "fascism",
which led to verdicts of not guilty in most cases. Yuri Zakharov, senior
assistant to the Russian prosecutor-general, noted that as far back as 1991
there were 90 fascist-type organizations in Russia and 150 "printed
editions" propagating similar ideas; now, he claimed, the figures had
considerably increased. Prosecutors' checks in twenty regions in 1996 had
revealed numerous neo-fascist organizations in Moscow, St Petersburg, Chuvashia,
Dagestan, Rostov Region and a number of other regions in Russia. Zakharov
added that the largest of these organizations was the RNE, which had branches
in nineteen regions, and that representatives of Cossack movements also
sometimes incited national and religious strife, as did Russian Orthodox
clergymen.
On 16 January, the daily newspaper Segodnya reported that Moscow's
mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, had agreed to a request from the Institute for the
Study of Judaism in the Commonwealth of Independent States to become joint
chairman of the administrative council for the publication of the Talmud
in a number of languages. Among other members of the council are Russia's
minister of culture, Yevgeny Sidorov, and the writer Chingiz Aitmatov. A
Russian translation of the Talmud was due to appear in the following month.
In late January, in an article entitled "Pro-fascist Publications Feel
Excellent" in the 25-31 January issue of the weekly Obshchaya gazeta
, Anna Politkovskaya took issue with the authorities' failure to deal
with the growth of far-right publications in Russia. Though she referred
specifically to the furore around the publication by al-Qods of the
so-called "plan to liberate Palestine from world Zionism" (see
LEGAL MATTERS), Politkovskaya was more concerned with "the impossibility
of accepting any further a situation in which the procuracy-general [of
Russia] puts up with the existence of pro-fascist publications in the country":
"Is all that is going on with al-Qods , and what the paper permits
itself [to publish], pure chance? Of course not. In our country things are
such that even when criminal cases under article 74 of the criminal code
(racial and ethnic incitement) are proceeded with against pro-fascist publications
under pressure of public opinion, they do not as a rule reach court and
are quietly terminated by a stroke of the investigator's pen. And what reason
is given? Lack of a legislative base." Politkovskaya maintained that
it was the efforts of "the so-called Baburin project"-a reference
to Sergey Baburin, the leader of the small nationalist Russkaya narodnaya
partiya (RNP, Russian People's Party) and deputy chairman of the state duma
, who decreed that only organizations and publications that actually
called themselves fascist could be prosecuted-that were blocking all attempts,
including those in the duma , to bring such cases to court. Politkovskaya
charged that Baburin personally was protecting al-Qods and its editor,
Shaban Khafez Shaban (see PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA, LEGAL MATTERS).
On 3 March, the founding conference of an inter-regional movement entitled
Young People's Action Against Fascism was held in Moscow. The conference
was attended by about sixty representatives from seventeen regions. The
meeting was addressed by the prominent reformist Yegor Gaydar.
On 22 March, the Moscow city duma held a press conference to warn
of the danger of fascism in Russia. Duma members, among them the
anti-fascist activist Evgeny Proshechkin, had on an earlier occasion attempted
unsuccessfully to introduce legislation banning the activities of extremist
groups in Russia.
On 8 May, an evening devoted to the fifty-first anniversary of the end of
the Second World War took place in Moscow's Central Cinematographers' House.
The evening was organized by, among others, the Union of Jewish Invalids
and War Veterans. The Moscow department of public and inter-regional communications
participated.
Also in May, an exhibition of documents and works of art depicting the "life
and fate" of the Jews of Russia and Europe took place in the Bryansk
regional museum within the framework of the international programme "Enlightenment
Against Prejudice".
On 4 June, Moscow's mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, took part in the ceremonial opening
of a Lubavich synagogue in the Marina Roshcha district on the site of the
earlier synagogue, which was burned down in 1993. Luzhkov said Moscow would
never again permit discrimination on national grounds and would do everything
possible to encourage Jews to stay in Russia.
On 5 July, the state duma passed a bill banning fascist propaganda
in Russia. The main task of the bill, which was based on international conventions
on human rights and the major principles of the Russian constitution, was
to establish the legal mechanisms for preventing and curtailing the propaganda
of fascism. On 22 July, President Yeltsin said that the definition of fascism
given by the bill "appears rather unclear". This fact, he said,
made the bill difficult to implement. Also, the bill's adoption might result
in "unjustified encroachment on civic rights and freedoms". Moreover,
fascism was only one example of extremism, while it was necessary to combat
all forms. Yeltsin proposed that the duma discuss the creation of
legal methods to combat all forms of extremism.
On 8 October, the foundation of a synagogue was laid in Victory Park, the
site of Moscow's major monument to the Second World War. The synagogue is
expected to be com-pleted in time for the celebration of Mos-cow's 850th
birthday in September 1997. An Orthodox church already stands on the site;
a mosque is to be built. Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and Mayor Luzhkov
of Moscow took part in the ceremony. Chernomyrdin called for an end to antisemitism
and insisted that all Russians should be made aware of the contribution
of the Jews to the "motherland". Referring to the Holocaust, he
said that "When every third [Jew] died, none of the living has the
right to forget it." The deputy mayor of Moscow, Valery Shantsev, said
that the synagogue would be "a reminder" to those who subscribed
to ultra-nationalist and supremacist theories.
In September, in a Jewish New Year message to the country's Jewish community,
Prime Minister Chernomyrdin condemned the recent bombings of synagogues
in Yaroslavl (April) and Moscow (August) (see MANIFESTATIONS). He called
synagogues Russia's "national sacred places" and said that "an
end should be put" to their desecration.
On 13 November, in response to what was described as an increase in the
number of incidents of Nazi symbols being used in public, the Moscow city
parliament passed the first reading of a by-law to deal with the phenomenon.
It prohibits the production, dissemination and display of Nazi symbols anywhere
inside the precincts of Moscow. Offenders will be fined the equivalent of
20-100 minimum salaries or imprisoned for up to fifteen days. The draft
legislation was introduced by Evgeny Proshechkin, a Moscow duma member
and head of the Moscow Anti-Fascist Centre.
Little change is perceptible in the level of antisemitism in 1996 as
compared with previous post-Soviet years. Popular prejudice continued to
be directed first and foremost against dark-skinned people from Russia's
southern republics, while anti-Jewish sentiment appeared relatively minor.
Given the volatility of Russian life, it is encouraging that the increased
number of individuals of Jewish extraction prominent in government and commercial
circles has not brought about a higher level of popular prejudice.
On the other hand, there clearly remains much unease among the Russian Jewish
community that the police and judicial author-ities are not doing enough
to apprehend the perpetrators of antisemitic acts and to prosec-ute offenders
to the degree required. It is apparent that the will to do so is often not
there. The existence of such an extensive extremist network-notwithstanding
its inability to achieve parliamentary representation-remains a very serious
issue. It must also be said that, while there have been improvements in
the monitoring of Russia's racial and antisemitic scene in the last few
years, much work remains to be done in this field, by the central author-ities
and Jewish organizations alike.
© JPR 1997